Airesis, the Swiss holding company that controls Le Coq Sportif and Boards & More, remained heavily loss-making last year as it continued to invest in restructuring measures for both companies. It ended the year with a loss of 18.6 million Swiss francs (€11.77m-$18.38m), only marginally lower than the loss it incurred in 2006.

The reorganization moves are clearly paying off in terms of sales at Le Coq, which reported a rise of 96 percent in revenues to €48.3 million for the year. Including the wholesale revenues of licensees, the tally reached about €141 million, up by 45.4 percent. The increase was triggered by changes in management, new sourcing arrangements and Le Coq’s takeover of its own distribution in the key markets of France, Italy and Spain.

A raft of new distribution deals were sealed in Eastern Europe, Russia and the Balkans at the end of 2007, which will kick in either this year or the next. As previously reported, Le Coq’s licensee in the Benelux recently obtained an extended agreement to cover Germany.

Le Coq’s gross profit margin strongly improved as well, climbing from 36 percent in 2006 to 45 percent last year. However, the company still suffered a net loss of €10.2 million, up from €7.6 million the year before.

Le Coq is aiming for break-even operating results in 2008 but its net result should remain negative. After carrying a capital increase of €8.7 million last year, the company has launched a new capital increase involving 1.7 million shares.

Boards & More underwent a second round of restructuring measures last year, including the divestment of F2, which caused the group’s sales to decline by 12.6 percent to 60.8 million CHF (€38.46m-$60.07m). Taking into account only continuing activities, and excluding currency effects, the company’s sales actually rose by about 5 percent. Adding the wholesale revenues of licensees, Boards & More’s brands chalked up sales of 88.5 million CHF (€144.4m-$225.7m), up 4.1 percent.

Far from improving, the group’s gross profit margin dipped to 33.6 percent, compared with 36.3 percent in 2006. However, Boards & More’s net loss was still almost halved to 5.5 million CHF (€8.98m-$14.03m).